Our trip caught up with us on Friday. After two days of sight-seeing, we were spent.
I was able to finish sign of the week before breakfast, even after promising myself I’d have it ready to go ahead of time.
Over breakfast we decided to make it a ‘museum day.’ We ended up taking the underground to Bond Street and then walking to the Wallace Collection near Marlylebone, where we had been Thursday. As we walked, I recognized some of the places we had passed the day before and I was thankful the museum was air conditioned. After viewing the first gallery together – paintings and other art work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we separated. My wife went upstairs, to explore and I explored downstairs and te the collection of English armor.
I was able to sit quietly and people watch in one of the chairs set aside for visitors like me.
When my wife was finished, she texted me and went to find her. We talked next steps and decided to visit Ottolenghi, the restaurant we had enjoyed the day before for a ‘petit repas,’ order it to go, and enjoy it in al fresco. The server recommended a small shaded neighborhood park close by and we found it after a short walk.
The park was the ideal location to enjoy a bite to eat , people watch, and talk about what we wanted to do with the remainder of the day – our last FULL day in London. In the end, we decided to return to the hotel, take a short nap, freshen up, and decide about dinner afterwards.
The short nap and freshening up did wonders for our perspective and we decided to enjoy the local culture of an English pub. On the recommendation of the concierge (and a fellow America) we chose a pub nearby the hotel. It was an excellent recommendation. I ordered the Scotch egg (below) and fish and chips, and my wife had the Beef Wellington, the house specialty. All of it was delicious washed down with a pint or two of the local beer.
We finished the evening at Hyde Park listening to Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts finish their set. We were back at our hotel well before midnight.
Saturday morning we woke early, it was a traveling day. After breakfast we returned to the room to pack before catching a ride to Paddington Station and the train to Swansea.
Before we left, I asked the concierge if there was a mailbox close by and he point ed at one I had walked by at least two times without noticing. You would’ve thought I would have noticed something so large and RED! I mailed the post cards we had written.
We had a date with the Great Western Railroad to celebrate Juliana.
My father and Juliana lived in England for less than a decade in the from about 1976 to 1983 before relocating to Paris. During our summer and winter breaks, my brothers and I would visit them though we always we went separately I went by by myself and my two brothers traveled together. Juliana and my father lived in Reading which is a bit more than a half hour train ride from London through Paddington Station. I remember traveling through Paddington to Reading and back during my trips – sometimes with them or by myself, then using the underground to get around the city. That was a long time ago and my to Reading and England was Christmas break of 1982 when I was a junior in college.
Our trip to Swansea would take us to Reading and Bristol, Cardiff, and terminate in Swansea where we would meet up with my brother and his wife and Juliana’s English family.
Saturday was for traveling, then gathering with family to honor Juliana and dad, and that is for another story.
Today has been an amazing day, it too was a travel day. Swansea to London, the the Eurostar to Paris. It’s been a whirlwind of a day, though I don’t know if it could top Saturday. That is for another post.
Today would have been Juliana’s 91st birthday. I know she was with us yesterday, likely wondering what all the fuss was about.
At the moment, I am traveling south from Lille to Paris at 186 mph (300 mph) and I had better wrap up this post before we arrive at Gare du Nord and begin the French portion of our trip begins. I have already jumped up, jumped in, and seized the day. Today has counted in so many ways – by car and rail and so much more. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, even when I am posting at 10:40 PM (local time).
When was the last time you posted late in the day?